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Hiring more doctors to treat veterans at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs isn’t going to be easy, according to a new analysis by a national physician staffing company.

The last choice for physicians when it comes to where they want to work is government and military employment, including the VA, according to the 2014 physician practice preference and relocation survey by The Medicus Firm, a physician staffing company.

As President Obama and Congress develop solutions to remedy the widening VA health care scandal, medical organizations across the country in recent weeks have complained that more doctors are needed at the VA given reports and audits showing veterans are waiting weeks to get even the most basic medical care.

But just 2 percent of providers in the Medicus survey said that practicing in a military or government-employed practice appealed to them the most. By far, doctors prefer private practice or employment at a hospital. About 30 percent prefer private single specialty group practices and about 20 percent prefer “multi-specialty” group private practices. Another 22 percent or so prefer employment at a hospital.

The survey, conducted in April and May of this year polled more than 2,200 providers representing 19 specialties. The survey, emailed directly to physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, was largely made up (90 percent) of physician respondents.

The lack of interest in government work is a problem for the VA now and in the future, Medicus executives say.

“Due to the national physician shortage, combined with a lack of physicians willing to commit to VA employment on a permanent or long-term basis, many VA facilities are forced to rely on locum tenens (temporary) physician staffing, which further breaks down communication, continuity of care, and systemic accountability,” said Jim Stone, president of The Medicus Firm, in a statement to Forbes.

“A revolving door of short-term physicians is not an ideal set up for the highest quality of care, and it also further deters physicians who would want to stay on permanently," Stone said. "Until the VA can give physicians more of a voice in the leadership and management of the system, and greater clinical authority with their patients, physicians will most likely continue to gravitate towards other practice settings with private groups or community hospitals.”

Earlier this week, the American Medical Association’s policy-making House of Delegates urged President Obama and Congress to consider allowing patients who are waiting for medical care to seek treatment outside of the VA system in light of excessive wait times.

In a letter to President Obama, the AMA urged the President to take “immediate action” to provide access for Veterans “utilizing the healthcare sector outside the VA until the VA can provide entitled care in a timely fashion.”

The Medicus Firm’s Stone said many doctors tell the firm in their surveys and through interviews that they feel the VA system is “in the hands of bureaucrats and administrators instead of clinicians and providers.”